Obama proposes reducing US aid funds to Colombia in 2015

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The proposed 2015 fiscal budget of US President Barack Obama would reduce economic aid to Colombia by more than 12%, the White House’s 2015 budget proposal released Tuesday revealed.

In Obama’s new budget proposal Colombia is slated to receive $280 million from the United States’s Plan Colombia in 2015. This is a $40 million drop from the roughly $320 million Colombia is set to receive in 2014.

Aid money directed towards the fight against drugs in Colombia is said to be the hardest hit, falling to $117 million next year from 2014’s budget of $142 million, or by nearly 20%. If President Obama’s budget proposal is approved this will be the greatest diminution of funding reported Portafolio.

Development aid from the United States will fall to $133 million in 2015 from the $140 million allocated this year. The US president’s budget plan reportedly appropriates a similar slight decrease in funding for the other Plan Colombia programs.

Plan Colombia was implemented in 1999 by former Presidents Bill Clinton of the United States and Andres Pastrana of Colombia to support social development and reduce drug trafficking. Under former US President George W. Bush, the plan sent billions of dollars during the 2000s to fight drug trafficking and production. Plan Colombia has shrunk gradually since Obama became the US president. In 2009 the United States delivered almost $700 million but that amount has steadily declined over the last five years.

It should be noted that “Just the Facts,” a US NGO that monitors government aid in Latin America says that Colombia will receive over $386 million dollars in 2014. This means US aid to Colombia could drop by as much as 25% next year.